Eustis transportation museum gets a new set of treads

Reuben Golderos, left, and Kenny Hicks guide a 1940 M16 Multiple Gun Motor Carriage Halftrack onto a rail flat car at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis Monday. The World War II vehicle came from the U.S. Army Museum Support Center in Anniston, Ala. (Jonathon Gruenke / Daily Press)

At Fort Eustis, the U.S. Army Transportation Museum pays homage to all the ways soldiers traveled over land, across water and through the air.

But until Monday, the museum didn’t have anything that tells a little-known tale: the fort’s brief but important role as a training ground for anti-aircraft units in World War II.

Now it can start to tell that story, thanks to a new set of treads.

A World War II-era Army halftrack arrived at the museum Monday from Anniston, Ala. The hybrid workhorse has conventional wheels in front and rubber tank-like treads in the rear, allowing it to conquer tough battlefield terrain.

Its anti-aircraft weapon was deadly, consisting of four 50-caliber machine guns mounted in a single unit.

“We thought this would complement the fact that we had an anti-aircraft element here at Fort Eustis,” he said, waiting for the halftrack to be unloaded, “and since we really don’t have anything here in the museum collection that tells that story, we thought this would be a good addition.”

It came to Newport News from the U.S. Army Museum Support Center in Anniston, Ala. A centralized system allows Army museum directors and curators to post pieces that are no longer needed at a particular location.

“We were looking for a halftrack of some kind, hopefully an anti-aircraft halftrack, and we got it through Anniston,” Sammis said. “We had several others were were looking at, but this one was in the best shape.”

Besides shooting down aircraft, the quad-machine guns could be turned on enemy troops.

Eustis has served in various roles through the decades, evolving to meet the Army’s needs — some of which is described in a history published by the joint base.

It trained thousands of soldiers during the Great War, when it was known as Camp Eustis. That included anti-aircraft training, plus work with observation balloons and early fighter planes from Langley.

In the 1930s, it was home to mechanized units that included the Army’s only active armored car troop.

In World War II, more than 20,000 troops trained at Eustis in anti-aircraft artillery. That began to wind down, Sammis said, because German and Japanese air forces suffered greater losses as the war continued.

Eustis has become synonymous with Army transportation. It is home to the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary). Encompassing 7,800 acres, it includes nearly 25 miles of railway and an active military seaport.